UNF researchers publish ‘COVID-19 Impacts on Florida’s Healthcare Professionals’ study
A team of University of North Florida researchers within the Brooks College of Health have published results of a study that looked at how COVID-19 impacted healthcare professionals in Florida.
The survey of over 3,000 medical workers was conducted in June 2020 to understand impacts to employment, telehealth usage and interprofessional collaboration. The study sheds light on how COVID-19 impacted an array of healthcare professionals, all in different capacities.
Survey responses show the pandemic impacted both provider’s own careers as well as the care that they were able to deliver to their patients. It also demonstrated the critical need for additional training on telehealth and continued interprofessional collaboration. The easing of restrictions has resulted in a return in volume for many healthcare clinics, but the effect on job status and job future is still unknown.
Results of the UNF study show the effect on employment status was uniquely separated by profession - more nurses and physicians reported having no employment effect, more mental health counselors transitioned to telehealth and over 1/3 of rehabilitation providers reported being furloughed. Responses revealed that over 40% of providers had no training in telehealth, yet 33.1% reported an increase in usage and interprofessional interactions declined across all healthcare professions.
The UNF research team consisted of Dr. Kristen Hicks-Roof, nutrition and dietetics assistant professor; Dr. Robert Zeglin, public health assistant professor; Dr. Hanadi Hamadi, health administration associate professor; Dr. Jing Xu, health administration assistant professor; Dr. Raine Osborne, physical therapy adjunct and Brooks Rehabilitation director of research; and Chloe Bailey, health administration graduate program alumna.
The full article is available through Taylor & Francis.